1 The Bible. 2 The word Bible comes from….

3 When was the Bible written.  Over a period of 1000 years  The earliest writings date back to 900 B.C.

(or C.E.)  A.D. stands for “in the year of our Lord”  B.C.

stands for “before common era”  C.E. stands for “common era”.

5 The First Five books are called  The Pentateuch which means “5 books” (Greek word)  The Torah which means the Law (Hebrew word)  The first five books are….  Genesis  Exodus  Leviticus  Numbers  Deuteronomy.

7 Exodus: To leave  The story of the Israelites fleeing Egypt  Moses receiving the Commandments (or Laws. 8 Leviticus:  This book is basically the laws for the priests to follow:  A) Sacrifice rules  B) Consecration of the priesthood  C) Laws on what is clean and unclean  D) the Holiness code.

10 Deuteronomy  Second telling of the story of Moses  Repeats for a second time all the Laws  The word Deuteronomy means  Second Law.

History books like I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ruth and Esther Poetry books like Psalms, Lamentations, Song of Songs Philosophy texts like Proverbs. 13 We believe the Bible contains truth….but what is truth.

14 The New Testament (Christian Scriptures)  First four books are called….  The Gospels (a word meaning “Good News” ) which are the stories of the life and teachings of Jesus They are….a) Matthew b) Mark c) Luke d) John.

Here is my second book, I call it Acts…. 16 Then come the Epistles  Epistles means  “letters”  There are 21 Epistles, most of them written by Paul.

17 Ladies and Gentleman, the Beatles… As I Write this letter….

Paul writes letters, but I am here to say, in the end, all you need is love, and God is love. 19 Identifying Scripture Passages  Book: Genesis  Chapter: 6  Verse: 24-28  Gen 6: 24-28.

The most scrutinized and authenticated, scientifically and academically studied, carefully documented and transmitted piece of literature in history happens to make the internal claim to be the written word of God. Is the Bible true.

By Patrick Morley MIM Founder & Executive Chairman Winter Park, Florida. One day I showed our Man in the Mirror Statement of Faith to a man having doubts about his Christian faith.

But point #1 deals with the inerrancy of Scripture. Wanting to understand where he was stumbling, I asked if he would be willing to go through our Statement of Faith and mark each of the ten points as either “believe,” “don’t believe,” or “doubt.”.

If I could believe the first one—that the Bible really is the Word of God—then I would believe all of it.”. And there’s the heart of the issue: How can you have enough confidence to believe the Bible really is the Word of God.

My goal is that by the end of this article you will have learned, or been reminded of, three compelling reasons that will give you more than enough confidence to affirm that in the Bible we find a flawless record of exactly what God wanted to say exactly the way He wanted to say it. It would not be realistic to remember everything you’re about to read.

First, because I think most men want to believe the Bible is the Word of God, let’s consider what the Bible says about itself. No political, double talk here: The Bible unambiguously claims to be the Word of God.

(2 Timothy 3:16). Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.

(2 Peter 1:20-21). And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters.

(2 Peter 3:15-16). Every word of God is flawless.

Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. (Proverbs 30:5-6).

your word is truth.” (John 17:17). So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Of course, I could claim to be the king of Norway, but that wouldn’t make it so. Nevertheless, it’s not insignificant that the Bible so clearly claims to be the Word of God.

Hebrews 1:1 says, “God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways.” They were men like Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, and many more—40 in all. No committee sat down and said, “Let’s write a Bible.” No one assembled 40 authors together for a writer’s conference.

Moses was the first to write, and 1,500 years later disciples like Peter, John, Matthew, Luke, and Paul wrapped up the Scriptures with a flurry that we call the New Testament. Those men wrote down what God told them to write—usually on a parchment or a scroll made from an animal hide.

Or what they felt, like David in Psalms. Or what happened in a previous age, like Moses composing Genesis.

Canon is just a technical term for Bible. it means “rule” or “standard.” It’s a fixed list of books that religious scholars consider to be Scripture—“the inspired word of God.”.

That was based on how much the scrolls were used and how widespread their authority became. The Pentateuch, the writings of Moses and first five books of the Bible, is the most prominent example.

“For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath” (Acts 15:21). No one knows for sure, but at some point the idea for a “closed canon” (which means, “That’s all, folks.

Some scholars think that may have happened as early as 300 BC. That date, or one close to it, had to be the case, since the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek by 200 BC.

For us, that would be like American Catholics trying to read a Latin Bible. The story goes that the twelve tribes of Israel each sent six scholars (70-72 in all) to Alexandria, Egypt, to translate the Hebrew to Greek in 70 days.

That’s quite remarkable, because all 39 of our Old Testament books are included in the Septuagint (along with several apocryphal books included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles).

The Old Testament was the Bible that Jesus read and quoted. In fact, some of Jesus’ quotations of the Old Testament match the Septuagint version—which means that Jesus felt comfortable using a translation.

He would often say, “It is written…” or ask, “Have you not read…. ”.

He referred to Adam, Eve, Abel, Noah, Moses, Lot, Elijah, and Jonah as historical figures. And He said the Scriptures cannot be altered, abolished, broken, or pass away.

After the resurrection, He told His disciples, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). Don’t miss that Jesus vouched for the Hebrew Bible.

That’s how the Old Testament came to exist, but how did we get the New Testament.

However, Christianity was growing into a powerful force. So the apostles and their disciples started to write about Jesus’ life and teachings, and also about the early church.

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Toward the end of the first century, a collection of Christian writings took shape and began circulating among the churches. Not all of those writings, however, were of canonical merit.

The four gospels as we know them—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—were the most revered by the church. They received wide circulation, along with the book of Acts.

Churches also began to archive copies of Paul’s epistles. A fixed list of books was starting to be recognized.

For example, a heretic named Marcion proposed a one-gospel New Testament with a “purified” version of Luke (with Marcion doing the purifying) and 10 of Paul’s 13 epistles. He appeared to be revising a list of books already in use.

Around 180 AD, Irenaeus first mentioned the idea of a “New Testament” to go with the “Old Testament” canon. That was important because Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John—the original “eyewitness” John.

How many chapters, verses, and words are in the Bible.

But first, it is important to know that the number of chapters, verses and words in the Old Testament, New Testament and the entire Bible depends upon the Bible version. The number of books and chapters in most Protestant Bibles will be the same.

The answer is thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven books in the New Testament for a total of sixty-six books. How many chapters are there in the Bible.

But each Bible will have a different number of verses and words as the translators try to accurately communicate the sense of the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The differences should be small.

For example, the King James Bible, New International Version Bible (NIV) and the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) have only fourteen verses in 3 John. But the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the NET Bible, The New Living Translation (NLT) and the New Century Bible have fifteen verses—one more verse.

The number of words in the Greek New Testament are also provided in a link below. Therefore, the information provided in the chart below is for the chapters, verses and words in the New American Standard Bible (NASB).

The Old Testament and New Testaments were written without chapters and verses. The books of the Bible were like a long letter.

For more information visit, “Who divided the Bible into chapters and verses. Why was it divided.

The chapter divisions that we see in our Bibles today were first created in A.D. 1127 and in A.D.

Examples can be found in the text of the Complutensian Polygot. For more information visit, “Who divided the Bible into chapters and verses.

” The number of chapters and verses in the Old Testament are as follows:.

These divisions were included in a Latin Vulgate edition. Please note the number of verses in 3 John will vary with the Bible version (please see the introductory comments).

Why was it divided. ” The number of chapters and verses in the New Testament are as follows:

The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, and the middle and shortest chapter is Psalm 117. The middle chapter of the Old Testament is Job 29 and the middle chapter of the New Testament is Romans 13.

The middle verse of the Old Testament is 2 Chronicles 20:17, and the middle verse of the New Testament is Acts 17:17.

Each of the eight lines in each section starts with a Hebrew letter in the alphabet. The entire Hebrew alphabet outlines the chapter.

Is it not amazing that God used about 40 authors to write the Bible, and yet the flow of the Bible is consistent and unchanged. It all points to Jesus Christ.

The miracles He performed remind us that He is God. His teachings were amazing, and His control of nature was real.

It is about our God. 1.

New American Standard Bible. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1977.

Menahem Mansoor. Biblical Hebrew.

13-14.

Nowadays, the complete Bible is available in over 700 languages, and the New Testament in another 1500 languages around the world (see the website of Wycliffe Bible Translators for more figures). All these versions are translations from the original Bible texts as they were written down centuries ago.

Was it written in English, Latin, Hebrew or Greek. The answer is more complicated and more interesting than one would expect.

The Bible exists of 66 books that were written over the course of centuries, by many different authors, as is explained in more detail in our articles “Who wrote the Bible. ” and “Who decided which books to include in the Bible.

Jesus Himself did not write anything. His words and life story were recorded by His followers.

Therefore, the Lord God is the ultimate, real author of all the Bible books. For more information on this topic, read our article “Is the Bible the word of God.

The Bible books are collected in two Testaments. The Old Testament covers human history from creation until about 400 BC, which is a period of thousands of years (see this timeline).

The book of Amos, for example, is introduced as follows: “The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1).

When this happened, becomes clear in the introduction of the final book:.

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“The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

The first five books of the Bible were largely written by Moses, who lived about 1400 BC. The last books were written shortly after the Jewish people returned from exile, around 400 BC.

The New Testament records the life of Jesus Christ and the period of the early church, thus covering about 100 years only. The Gospels (the books about Jesus’ earthly life) were written down by eye witnesses, within decades after the actual events.

The last books of the Bible were written by the apostle John by the end of the first century AD. First editions of famous books are carefully kept by collectors or displayed in museums.

Where is the original handwritten version of the various Bible books kept. Unfortunately, we don’t have any originals.

These materials do not last very long. Therefore, the Bible books were copied by hand to preserve and multiply them.

That way, some small differences developed. Sometimes we can’t be sure which version is original and which one has been changed over the centuries.

Although the original Bible books have been lost, we do have almost 6000 very old manuscripts of the New Testament alone, dating from the 2nd to the 16th century. Some cover entire Bible books, others just snippets.

For more detailed information on the question whether our modern Bibles resemble the original Bible text, read our article about this topic. With this background information in mind, let’s move on to the main question of this article.

The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, and a few passages in Aramaic. There are minor language differences between the first books of the Old Testament and the last ones, because every language develops over time, and there is some variation in language use by different authors and literal genres.

In Jesus’ days, this had become the language of the common people in the region around Israel, primarily due to the conquests of Alexander the Great. Therefore, Greek would be a language that many people could understand at that time.

After that, many people switched to Aramaic. But Jews also kept using Hebrew, especially as their religious language.

Hebrew is written from right to left. Originally, only the consonants of Hebrew words were written down.

This is especially helpful for readers who don’t have Hebrew as their mother tongue. See below for the first verses of Genesis as they look like in most modern versions (with added verse numbers et cetera), and a piece of text with only consonants.

As already mentioned above, the Old Testament contains a few text passages in Aramaic. Hebrew and Aramaic belong to the same language family, and are very similar.

Aramaic was the official language in the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian empires. Since these empires reigned over a large region including Israel (and took the majority of its inhabitants into exile), Aramaic became the common language of many Jews.

7:34. 14:36.

When Jesus is quoted in the New Testament, these quotes are thus often translations from Aramaic into Greek (although Jesus in all likelihood did speak Greek with people from outside the land of Israel). When Alexander the Great conquered his enormous empire, he introduced Greek as the common language.

The addition “koinè” makes clear that this was the ordinary, somewhat simpler Greek used by the common people, not ‘literary’ or ‘classical’ Greek. These are the first verses of the Gospel according to Luke, as they look like in modern versions.

And this is a piece of a Greek manuscript as it looked originally. As you can see, these older manuscripts used only capital letters, no spaces and hardly any punctuation.

I mentioned above that some later parts of the Old Testament were written in Aramaic, since this had become a common language for Israelites living in exile. During this period, they also translated older Bible books in Aramaic since people no longer understood the Old Testament Hebrew.

Initially, it was not even acceptable to put them in writing. But later on, the written versions were accepted by many Jews as authoritative translations.

Some years later, the other Old Testament books followed. This early Greek translation is called Septuagint (meaning 70), or LXX (the Roman denotation of 70).

When the authors of the New Testament quote the Old Testament, they often cite this Greek version. When the Roman Empire became more and more influential and Latin became the common language, parts of the Bible were translated in Latin as well.

In the 5th century AD, the whole Bible was translated into Latin by Hieronymus. This translation is called the Versio Vulgata, which means ‘translation for the common people’.

During the Middle Ages, the church even prohibited other translations. But since Latin was no longer understood by the common people, more and more initiatives developed to translate the Bible into people’s mother tongues.

These were translated as early as +/- 800 AD. In 1199 AD, Pope Innocent III banned unauthorized Bible translations to suppress heresies.

A manuscript is a hand-written document. The word has its origin in Latin: manu (hand) and scriptum (written).

In addition, there are 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300 manuscripts in other languages. The New Testament autographa, the manuscripts written by the original authors, are unavailable, but manuscripts have been discovered that are dated as early as the 2nd century.

Great Isaiah Scroll, 202-107 B.C., facsimile. The Great Isaiah Scroll is one of the original Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 and is the most complete of the DeadSea Scrolls found in the Qumran Caves.

Differences between this scroll and the later Masoretic text are mostly grammatical and spelling differences. Both this scroll and the Codex Leningradensis are open to Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” (ESV) Although the manuscripts were written over 1000 years apart, the Word of God had never changed.

Codex Leningradensis, A.D. 1008, facsimile.

This codex was found in Egypt and is now at The National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg (formerly known as Leningrad).

A group of scribes called the Masoretes, who worked in Tiberias and Jerusalem in Israel between the 5th and 10th centuries, added vocalizations (vowels), accents, and a textual apparatus to the Hebrew text. The version was finalized by Hebrew scribe Aaron ben Asher in the early 10th century.

Scroll of Exodus. Egypt, c.

1350, parchment. This scroll from the Cairo Genizah was discovered by Jewish scholar Solomon Schechter in 1892.

place”) is a depository for sacred Hebrew books that are no longer usable. Since the books contain God’s sacred name, they cannot be simply thrown away.

Manuscripts can be dated by the style of script used. The earliest New Testament manuscripts were in scripto continuo, a style of writing without spaces in between words.

Uncial, a script with majuscule (capital) letters which was more curved than earlier Greek writing styles, was used during the 4th-8th centuries. Cursive is a script where the author was able to write with fewer lifts of the pen.

There are over 2500 miniscule New Testament manuscripts. Codex Vaticanus.

Codex Vaticanus (“Book from the Vatican”) is one of the earliest complete manuscripts of the Bible. It includes the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Septuagint or LXX) as well as the Greek Christian Scriptures, the New Testament.

Written on vellum or calf’s skin, the codex has been in the Vatican Library at least since 1475. Codex Sinaiticus.

Along with Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important manuscripts of both the Greek Old and New Testaments. It was written by three different scribes and was corrected later thousands of times, making it one of the most corrected manuscripts in history.

Printed Edition of Codex Alexandrinus. c.400-440.

Cowper, ed. London, 1860.

Codex Alexandrinus was the first of the great uncial codices to be utilized for textual criticism and is considered one of the most reliable witnesses to Revelation. This edition was printed in 1860.

Codex Alexandrinus was brought to England by Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Cyril Lucar in 1621, and is now in the British Library. Codex Washingtonianus.

Codex Washingtonianus is the third oldest Greek manuscript of the Gospels. The manuscript was brought to the United States from Egypt by Detroit businessman Charles Lang Freer in 1906, and is now a part of the Freer Collection in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.

The Freer Logion reads (translation by Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman): And they excused themselves, saying, “This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not allow the truth and power of God to prevail over the unclean things of the spirits.

And Christ replied to them, “The term of years of Satan’s power has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near. And for those who have sinned I was delivered over to death, that they may return to the truth and sin no more in order to inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness which is in heaven.

This is a miniscule of Luke 23:8-23,25 from a late Byzantine codex of the Gospels. The majority of the codex is now in Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.

Catalogued as Codex 28.78 in Gregory Aland’s catalog.

Lectionary Reading from John 13:31-38. 1500.

This lectionary was used in the Orthodox church for Passion Week. It is the first lesson of the Twelve Accounts of the Passion which was read on Holy Friday.

Aland L2434.

Nouum Iesu Christi D.N. Testamentum.

Robert Estienne (Robertus Stephanus), Paris, 1550. Printer Robert Estienne, known by his Latin name Stephanus, printed four editions of the Greek New Testament.

It is the first printed Greek New Testament to include a textual apparatus. In the margin, fifteen manuscripts as well as the Complutensian Polyglot (the first printed Greek New Testament) are cited for textual variations.

This edition’s textual apparatus was compiled by his son who was only 18 years old at the time, and the apparatus is full of errors. The Greek text of this third edition became normative for most Biblical translations into the twentieth century.

Novum Testamentum Graecum (Greek New Testament). Jacob Wettstein, Amsterdam, 1751.

Uncials are represented by Roman capital letters (A, B, C, …) and minuscules are represented by Arabic numerals (28, 29, 30, …). Wettstein examined many Greek manuscripts, various early versions, as well as the writings of the Church Fathers, in order to provide an accurate textual apparatus.

The New Testament in Greek and English. Daniel Mace, 1729.

Daniel Mace was a Presbyterian minister who created the first English and Greek diglot Bible. His Greek New Testament is one of the first to depart in a significant way from the Textus Receptus and create a text-critical edition.

His English translation also departs from the traditional English translations and uses colloquial expressions like in Luke 7:40, which can be seen on display.

This is a Sahidic Coptic translation of the Septuagint on parchment. The Bible was being translated into Coptic as early as the second century.

Though the word Coptic originally referred to Egyptians in general, after the Islamic conquest, the term came to refer specifically to Egyptian Christians, a minority in Egypt who often suffer persecution today. Sahidic Coptic was the language of the southern part of Egypt.

Today, about 10% of Egyptians identify themselves as Coptic Christians, and many still use the Coptic language for their liturgy. Codex Argenteus Upsaliensis.

Codex Argenteus is a 6th century manuscript of Ulfilas’ Gothic translation of the Gospels. Ulfilas was a bishop and missionary to the Goths, a Germanic people.

Ulfilas was an Arian. However, his Arian beliefs only clearly influenced one verse in his translation, Philippians 2:6.

It was made with purple stained vellum and the text was written with silver and gold ink. Lindisfarne Gospels (The Gospels of St.

Facsimile, 1854, Surtees Society.

The King James Authorized Bible has 783,137 words. How many words is that.

Can you imagine how long type-setting must have taken in the early days of printing.

Small wonder that in the days of movable type a lot of printing errors were made. In the notorious “Wicked Bible’” the word “not” was accidentally omitted from the commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Three little letters can make a huge difference in meaning.

The Catholic Bible has an even higher word count because it has seven books more than the protestant Bible. Are you wondering why.

Martin Luther felt that seven of the books accepted as part of the Old Testament at the time were not quite up to scratch since the 90 AD Jewish Council of Jamnia had rejected them. Luther reasoned that the Old Testament was Jewish, and, therefore, shouldn’t include anything that Jews didn’t accept.

This innovation was brought about by a man named Stephen Langton, and it made finding your way around a lot easier. All in all, the Bible has 1,189 chapters, but it was still quite difficult to get “on the same page” when studying the Bible.

There are 31,102 of them, and the shortest one is John 11:35 “Jesus wept,” while the longest is in the book of Esther and consists of 78 words. A lot of the names we give to children have biblical origins.

Now think of all the “Marys” you’ve met in your time. Of course, some names have fallen out of grace for good reasons.

“Mahershalalhashbaz” is the longest name in the Bible, and fortunately for us, it has fallen out of fashion. There are, of course, only 10 commandments which Jesus neatly summed up into two really comprehensive ones, but if you count commands instead of commandments, you’d come up with a total of 6,468.

There are even more predictions – 8,000 of them – and a sum total of 1,260 promises. Questions are certainly asked.

The Bible has one Central Character, who is referred to as “God” 4,094 times and as “Lord” 6,781 times. Looking for the longest book in the Bible.

For those who are looking for a lot of information in a very short book, 3 John is recommended reading. it has the lowest word count of all the books in the Bible.

In general, authorities believe that the Bible was written by 80 authors. Nobody really knows the answer to this question, but the Bible Society estimates that since 1812, over 5 billion Bibles have been printed.

Would you like to guess which country prints the most bibles. China comes in at number 1.

No other book in history has been as influential as the Bible. From its fascinating history to the debates around biblical matters that rage today.

(Photo courtesy of Robert).

After the kingdoms of Israel and Judah had fallen, in 722 bce (before the Common Era, equivalent to bc) and 587/586 bce, respectively, the Hebrew people outlived defeat, captivity, and the loss of their national independence, largely because they possessed writings that preserved their history and traditions.

Those who did return did so to rebuild a temple and reconstruct a society that was more nearly a religious community than an independent nation. The religion found expression in the books of the Old Testament: books of the Law (Torah), history, prophecy, and poetry.

When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 ce (Common Era, equivalent to ad), the historical, priestly sacrificial worship centred in it came to an end and was never resumed. But the religion of the Jewish people had by then gone with them into many lands, where it retained its character and vitality because it still drew its nurture from biblical literature.

It preserved their identity as a people, inspired their worship, arranged their calendar, permeated their family lives. it shaped their ideals, sustained them in persecution, and touched their intellects.

The Hebrew Bible is as basic to Christianity as it is to Judaism. Without the Old Testament, the New Testament could not have been written and there could have been no man like Jesus.

This has to do with cultural values, basic human values, as much as with religious beliefs. The Genesis stories of prehistoric events and people are a conspicuous example.

This is not because they contain historically factual information or scientifically adequate accounts of the universe, the beginning of life, or any other subject of knowledge, but because they furnish a profoundly theological interpretation of the universe and human existence, an intellectual framework of reality large enough to make room for developing philosophies and sciences.

It centres in the one and only God, the Creator of all that exists. All things have their place in this structure of ideas.

The Covenant people (i.e., the Hebrews in the Old Testament and Christians in the New Testament) are chosen not to enjoy special privileges but to serve God’s will toward all nations. The individual’s sacred rights condemn his abuse, exploitation, or neglect by the rich and powerful or by society itself.

God’s will and purpose are viewed as just, loving, and ultimately prevailing. The future is God’s, when his rule will be fully established.

The church, driven in part by the power of biblical themes, called men to ethical and social responsibility, to a life answerable to God, to love for all men, to sonship in the family of God, and to citizenship in a kingdom yet to be revealed. The Bible thus points to a way of life never yet perfectly embodied in any society in history.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. This claim is not particularly controversial among biblical scholars, though some have argued that parts of the New Testament were originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic.

In this article, we will survey the evidence and arguments that lead the vast majority of scholars today to believe that the original language of the New Testament was Greek. In order to identify the original language of the New Testament, it is important to understand the language situation in the first century AD.

Under Persian imperial rule in the sixth through the early fourth centuries BC, Aramaic became the official language of government and most scribal education, and it gradually became the most common spoken language in the region. Hebrew and Aramaic are closely related languages of the so-called “Semitic” branch (of the Afroasiatic family), and they mixed and influenced each other to a large extent during this period.

With the conquest of Alexander the Great in the late fourth century, Greek gained prominence as the common language of government, trade, and elite culture throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, including Judea and Galilee. By the third century BC at the latest, the Jewish expatriate community in Egypt had largely lost the ability to speak Hebrew and/or Aramaic, and so they translated the books of the Hebrew Bible into their then-native Greek.

Many Jewish works from the diaspora, as well as some from Judea, were also written in Greek in this period. Thus, by the time of the first century AD, the language situation in Palestine was very complicated and multilingual.

Hebrew continued to be used for prayer and to compose religious texts, such as many of the Dead Sea Scrolls. And there is some evidence that Hebrew also continued to be used as a spoken language in some circles.

Thus, the language used for any spoken or written interaction depended on who was involved and the purpose of the conversation, and Greek allowed for the widest possible dissemination of written works throughout the Mediterranean world.

Here, the evidence is unequivocal: the New Testament is a corpus of Greek compositions. The Institute for New Testament Textual Research has documented over five thousand Greek manuscripts containing parts (or all) of the New Testament, ranging from the second century AD into the early modern era.

This includes ancient translations into Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Georgian. It also includes, of course, modern translations into countless languages around the world.

Some late-antique Jewish polemical works do include Hebrew translations of parts of the New Testament, but the earliest extant Hebrew version of a complete New Testament book is the fourteenth-century version of Matthew included in a polemical work by the Jewish scholar Shem Tov.

Even after the first century AD, Aramaic continued to be widely spoken in the Eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and surrounding areas in a wide variety of local dialects. These dialects cannot exactly be considered “Jesus’ mother tongue,” because they changed considerably over time and varied significantly from place to place.

These versions are usually called the “Syriac,” which is one of the most widely used and well-documented dialects of Aramaic. Another noteworthy translation was made into the Christian Palestinian Aramaic dialect, which has more Palestinian influence than the other versions.

They were not original Aramaic versions of the New Testament books.2 The fact that even the earliest Syriac translators had to rely on Greek manuscripts is a good indication that Hebrew or Aramaic copies of the New Testament were unavailable already in the early centuries AD. The manuscript tradition thus strongly indicates a Greek origin for all of the books of the New Testament.

One of the strongest reasons is church tradition. The ancient Christian historian Eusebius cited a Christian writer from the second century named Papias who claimed, “Matthew collected/arranged the sayings [of Jesus] in the Hebrew dialect/manner, and everyone translated/interpreted them as they were able.”3.

Irenaeus, Origen, Eusebius, Augustine, Jerome, and others interpreted Papias’s statement this way. But as many modern scholars have pointed out, this brief statement contains many ambiguities that make it difficult to understand and assess its veracity:

Indeed, there is no evidence that any early Jewish or Christian writer ever actually had access to a Hebrew or Aramaic original of Matthew, nor does anyone cite from such a hypothetical text. In the fifth century, the famous Christian textual scholar Jerome was sent to the Holy Land and tasked with translating the Old and New Testaments from their original languages into Latin.

Though initially intrigued, Jerome appears ultimately not to have been convinced, and he translated his Latin version of Matthew instead from the canonical Greek version. Other church fathers also discussed the contents of the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which is in many respects very far removed from the canonical Greek Matthew received in the orthodox Christian churches.

The Gospel according to the Hebrews cited by Jerome adds a non-canonical saying of Jesus in which he explicitly denies his need for baptism because of his sinlessness.

it appears to be a separate apocryphal gospel dependent upon Matthew.

1 What is the Bible. Does any one know what the word Bible means.

2 The Bible is divided into two main parts Do you know what they are. Can you find out what the word Testament means.

3 We call the Bible the Word of God. This doesn’t mean we believe that God actual wrote the stories.

4 This is the story of the Jewish people It tells us about their thoughts, their poetry, the stories they told each other and some of their history It was written by many different people Some of these books are nearly 3000 years old A lot of it was written in Hebrew when these books were written England didn’t exist.

5 These books were written about 2000 years ago They tell us the Good News ( the Gospel) about Jesus We hear the stories of how the church started out We read the letters people wrote to each other about Jesus and God. 6 QUIZ Decide if these stories are Old Testament or New Testament.

One of the stories told in the Bible is about Jonah. The people who wrote this story wanted us to learn things about God.

Is the Bible the Word of God. A first step in answering the question is to ask what the Bible claims about itself.

Let’s start with the Old Testament. It’s a simple fact that various books in our Old Testament claim to possess the very words of God.

that is, it means to qualify the accompanying quotation as the exact and very words of God. Those who wrote, “Thus says the LORD” certainly thought they were giving us the very words of God.

Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness” (Exod. 5:1).

that the Israelites really existed and were in bondage. that the ten plagues actually happened.

and that their record of events constitutes the very words of God. If you, due to your disbelief in miracles or your disdain for violence or whatever, claim these things never happened—regardless of how you rationalize your interpretation of Exodus—you should at least know that you’re disregarding what the writing actually says about itself.

now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. Thus, says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt.

15:1-3). Again, you may choose to deny that God actually spoke these words.

You may choose to believe they are not consistent with your experience of or sensibilities about God. But you may not legitimately say that some of Samuel’s words are from God while others are not.

There are hundreds of other examples. Your science may lead you to deny Jeremiah’s claim that God says he is the creator of the universe (Jer.

Your doubts about the divinity of Christ may lead you to deny Isaiah’s claim that God personally prophesies the virgin birth (Isa. 7:14 with Matt.

Your doubts about how God acts among humans may lead you to deny the biblical claim that God personally opens and shuts wombs (Isa. 66:9).

2:22ff.). that God personally condemns sexual sin (Jer.

and so on. You may deny that God says these things, but you should know that the authors of the Bible didn’t doubt that God said them.

This conviction permeates the Old Testament. The prophets of justice (progressives tend to believe the prophets) built their prophetic texts upon the premise that the legal and narrative portions of the Scripture preceding their works are true, right, and inspired.

You undermine the prophets when you cut them off from the rest of the Bible simply because you choose some of their comments about the poor but disagree with the rest of their claims. The very same prophets who called for justice for the poor in the name of the Lord also called for many non-progressive values in the name of the same Lord—often in the very same sentences.

22:16. see also 7:5).

The Psalms elevate the Word of God and clearly state that the Old Testament writings are a sacred treasure. Psalm 19 is a good example.

The law [Hebrew, Torah] of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

in keeping them there is great reward. (Ps.

Psalm 119, the longest “chapter” in the Bible, is nothing but an acrostic hymn in praise of the written Word of God. Hear just a few of its admonitions: “Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes.

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it” (Ps.

It’s worth stating again that in all these texts (and many more) the writers and compilers of the Old Testament thought they were recording and preserving the very words of God. When progressives choose parts of the Old Testament (such as the prophetic calls to justice), but reject other parts (such as warnings against sexual sin or threats of judgment), they are guilty of the worst sort of sin—elevating themselves over the Word of God.

66:1-2). The New Testament writers confirm the Old Testament’s claim to be the very Word of God.

Indeed, the entire New Testament is openly built upon the Old Testament. Jesus and the original Christian movement saw themselves as the legitimate heirs of the Word of God recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Take the Gospel of Matthew. Chapters 1 and 2 make four references to the Old Testament as the infallible Word of God: that Jesus would be born from a virgin (1:23, referencing Isa.

that he would flee to Egypt (2:15, referencing Hos. 11:1), and that Herod would kill babies in Bethlehem (2:18, referencing Jer.

For our discussion, it doesn’t really matter how Matthew interprets these Old Testament texts. What matters is that Matthew saw them as the Word of God.

Jesus lives as a faithful Jew who observes the Sabbath, teaches the Old Testament in the synagogues, practices the justice taught in the Old Testament prophets, and dies according to Old Testament predictions. From the opening chapter all the way to the last, the Book of Acts presumes the Christian faith is the rightful heir of the Old Testament (see 1:20.

Consider also that Luke, the author of Acts, is the same as the author of the Gospel of Luke—meaning that Luke believes the early church’s practices constitute the divine example of how to live in the kingdom Jesus proclaimed. The apostle Paul regularly argues for the validity of the Old Testament and builds his theology around it as the Word of God.

For we know that the law is spiritual …” (Rom. 7:12-14).

8:3-4). Paul makes the point that the Old Testament was actually written for Christians because we are its heirs (1 Cor.

15:4). The rest of the New Testament continues to build upon the conviction that the Old Testament is the Word of God—quoting it, alluding to it, and building a theology upon it.

Paul says of the Old Testament: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

1:19-20). Jesus himself is described in the Gospels as granting authority to the written Scriptures.

After all, it was Jesus who said: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets.

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be.

What does the “Living Word of God” mean. There are different meanings of the Word of God.

How is it defined in the Bible. In the biblical basis, this article has described all about the Word of God.

According to the Bible, Jesus Christ is the incarnate Word of God. 1 John 1:1 also clearly mentions that Jesus is the Word of Life who was from the beginning, who came in the flesh and people touched Him and saw Him.

The Word in verses 1-3 is referring to the Son of God (referring to verse 14), Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh to live among humankind.

Concerning Jesus, the Word of God, scripture shows His eternal existence and His deity. Being the Word of God, Jesus gave us eternal life.

in the fullness of time, He came in the flesh as the second person of the Triune God (Gal.4:4). The main reason for Word becoming flesh was to rescue us from the slavery of our sin, so that we may have our inheritance in the Kingdom of God (Gal.

Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is living and active…” All the 66 canonical books in the Bible are the written Word of God. Though there are more than 40 human writers in the Bible, the main writer is the Holy Spirit Himself.

They didn’t write their own words, but the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 clearly says that all the Scriptures (the Bible is inspired by the Word of God.

The written word of God –the Bible is the most reliable Word for us today. Everything we check or test on the basis of the written Scripture.

People may claim their own vision, their own emotions, and desires as God’s, but we have to check it in the Bible. Though the Bible was written thousands of years before, it is applicable for the people of all generations.

3:15-16). Throughout the Bible God has raised the prophets and preachers to preach His living Word, in the Old Testament, many prophets preached the Word of the LORD.

He put His Word in the mouth of Jeremiah and commanded to speak it.

Prophets spoke the Word that was commanded by God to speak. Therefore, all the prophets in the Old Testament have said that “Thus says the LORD.” All the preached Words were given by God to his prophets (Ex.

22:38. 1 Sam.

30:12-14. Jer.

No one could preach unless God had put His word in him, otherwise, he/she would be punished (Ezek. 13:1-7.

18:20-22). Therefore, all the preached Words were the authentic Word of God.

28:18-20. Acts 1:18).

As a disciple of Jesus, we also have to preach the Gospel continuously, of the Word we preach is not ours but comes from God and gives life to the people of this broken world. Most important thing is that our preaching must be based on the Bible.

When He speaks, things happen as He desires. God brought chaos into order through His Word.

Universe, heavens, and the earth, everything seen and unseen are the creation of God through His Word. Psalms 33:6 also says that heavens were made by the Word of the LORD and their starry host by the breath of His mouth.

His decree didn’t only create the heavens and the earth, but He also controls His whole creation with this. For, Hebrews 1:3 says, God sustains all His creations by His powerful Word.

He speaks with His people personally as two friends talk sitting together. In the garden of Eden, He spoke with Adam personally (Gen.

Even after the fall, we can see the conversation between God and Adam in Genesis 3. In the ten commandments also, God spoke personally with the nation of Israel (Exod.

When Jesus took baptism, God spoke from heaven to Jesus personally (Matt. 3:17).

Because, experienced people, God’s people throughout history, and the Scripture itself accept these as the authentic Word of God.

Earlier this year, we opened our newest Ark Encounter exhibit, Why the Bible Is True, to the public. In this gospel-presenting exhibit, you will follow three college students around their college campus as they are challenged about their beliefs.

Below are five evidences from the exhibit that, when taken together, demonstrate the truthfulness of the Bible. What does it mean that the Bible is God’s Word.

At the same time, this process allowed the writers to use their own styles and personalities. The Bible is authoritative in every subject it addresses and without error in the original manuscripts, since the words ultimately came from God who knows everything and is without fault.

It was written by over 40 different writers, including shepherds, kings, priests, scholars, fishermen, and prophets, over a span of 1,500 years. However, the Bible remains unified in its message even though it displays a wide variety of genres and its authors wrote for a variety of purposes and exhibited a broad range of emotions.

” The scribes who copied Scripture took great care in their work. Accuracy was ensured by a number of safeguards, including the counting of letters in a line and on a page.

Watch Tim Chaffey’s video below to learn more: The divine origin of the Bible is demonstrated through its frequent use of prophecy.

The Bible’s message provides ultimate answers to our greatest need (God’s forgiveness) and meets our deepest yearning (eternal life). God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place, taking our sins upon Himself.

The answer to our greatest need and deepest longing is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To learn more about the truth of Scripture, plan your trip to the Ark Encounter today.

Share your favorite pictures with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, using #arkencounter, and you could see your photo featured in a future blog.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. ~2 Timothy 3:16-17.

But it is this very desire that leaves many Christians asking about how to interpret the Bible. Enter hermeneutics, a word that is misspelled as often as it is argued about.

Biblical hermeneutics is the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation. The word most often refers to how to interpret the Bible or other sacred texts from other religions.

Where exegesis refers to the interpretation of a specific Biblical text, hermeneutics is deciding which principles we will use in order to interpret the text. It will come as no surprise that agreeing on the importance and veracity of the Bible is only the first step in what can be a very long conversation.

This approach seeks out the “plain meaning” of a biblical text. This is not to imply that every passage of Scripture should be interpreted literally, but rather the plain meaning be accepted as truth.

We do believe that Jesus was telling us plainly that it is our role to showcase the love of God to everyone around us. We’ll discuss this more in-depth below.

One popular example is the Epistle of Barnabas, where the author believes the Old Testament food laws were misunderstood by the people of Israel. Rather than restricting diet, he believes the laws were meant to avoid behavior which was associated with these animals.

Most often this meant interpreting people and events as only foreshadowing people and events in the New Testament, usually Jesus and his actions. One such case would be Noah.

Defined as mystical or spiritual, this approach sought to interpret Scripture in view of the life to come. Relying significantly on numerical values of Hebrew letters and words, the focus here was on Messianic prophecies and the study of the last days.

As you can see, there are multiple approaches and disagreements about which branch of hermeneutics should be utilized, and we haven’t yet interpreted a single verse from the Bible. Unfortunately, it’s true that people can find anything to argue about.

While there are various branches of hermeneutics, we will be discussing the literal interpretation branch. We believe this allows us to understand both the original intent of the authors as well as discover how it applies to us.

When you are first attempting to understand the Bible, knowing the definitions of the words used by the authors is a great first step. But you should also know if you’re reading a historical narrative, poetry, or a parable.

Laughing at a joke is appropriate. Laughing at a joke during a funeral may not be as appropriate.

Understanding how Jesus’ words would have been interpreted by his original audience is an important step to being able to properly apply the truth in our own lives. Do we mean to suggest that every story, poem, or verse only has significance as we consider the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The life and work of Jesus is the very center of all historical truth. The Old Testament prophesies the coming of Jesus and the New Testament teaches us about the extent of what Jesus did.

Start with prayer, end with prayer, and make sure prayer permeates every step along the way in your interpretation of the Bible. Since God will be most concerned with our application of the Bible, it follows God would be most interested in ensuring we utilize biblical hermeneutics correctly.

Do you want to learn more about how to interpret the Bible. Grace Theological Seminary offers several degrees, like a Master of Divinity in General Studies.

Learn more about our multiple programs and see which one is right for you.

Spending time in the Word of God is so important to growing your faith. If you’re a new christian or just new to Bible study you may be wondering “What book of the Bible should I read first.

While their may not be any RIGHT answers, there are definitely WRONG answers (looking at you Song of Solomon and Revelation).

Think of the Bible like a river–all flowing in one direction. You don’t want to drop in completely midstream where the water is flowing fast and you have no idea what’s going on, but there are also a lot of easy places where the water slows and it’s a great time to hop in.

The New Testament is a great place to start reading as the storyline of Jesus entrance into the world kicks off. All of the rest of the Bible is all pointing toward Jesus–so for those who are new to faith or even just curious about faith the gospels (the first four books of the New Testament) are a great place to start.

John is my favorite of the gospels and maybe my favorite book in all the Bible. The first chapter is so incredibly beautifully written.

It also has really beautiful themes and imagery of light versus dark woven throughout.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

The book of Mark is the shortest gospel and is a great place to start reading the Bible for the first time because it is short, punchy and to the point.

It has a slightly different perspective than the other gospels and Jesus humanity is highlighted more than any other book in the Bible.

It was so hard to pick between them all. Matthew was written by the former tax collector and disciple of Jesus, Matthew and he emphasizes Jesus as the King and Messiah for the Jewish people.

Luke’s gospel was written from firsthand accounts of eyewitnesses to Jesus life and ministry. Luke was a doctor and his account contains tons of beautiful details of Jesus as well.

The story of the early church continues to unfold in the book of Acts. We see the Holy Spirit coming into the new believers and how God spreads the message of Jesus all over the world.

This helps frame the continued story from the gospels and see how deeply Jesus impacted his followers and the impact they had all over the known world.

The book of Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul and is a great introduction to Paul’s letters (he wrote almost half of the entire New Testament. ).

Ephesians begins with a beautiful explanation about God’s grace and love then moves into Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church. He ends with practical teaching about so many different types of relationship and encouragements to stay strong in spiritual warfare.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. It’s a short book (only 6 chapters) but it is incredibly dynamic and uplifting to read.

James is a great book–it is practical and powerful–and is a good place to begin reading in the Bible.

James didn’t believe in Jesus until Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection. James is another relatively easy and short read, but you can also slow down and spend lots of time in it.

One Bible study on James I recommend if you want to dig deeper is James: Mercy Triumphs Bible study by Beth Moore.

The book of Psalms is the songbook of the Hebrew people–recalling their joy, sorrow, and hope over hundreds of years. It’s such an honor just to hold and read such a precious book.

There is so much honesty and emotion in the Psalms.

I created my 30 Days to Claiming the Promises of God Bible Study after spending the summer reading through the Psalms. I found the most powerful promises for today’s Christian women and in this Bible study we spend 30 days immersed and meditating on them.

Psalms is a great place to start reading because the Psalms are simple and heartfelt. Reading them helps me feel seen, known, and loved exceedingly by the God of the universe.

The first book of the Bible is a great place to start reading the Bible. You see the origin of the universe and the need of humanity for a Savior, Jesus.

Perhaps the most famous verse in Genesis is the first one…. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..

Of course, it’s a great follow up to Genesis.

In the wilderness God leads them and loves them relentlessly. He is passionate about their pure devotion to them and what is best for them.

The book of Ruth is a breathtaking love story that illustrates the love of God, and His faithfulness. It’s a nice, easy read and you can fairly easily finish the whole book in one sitting.

Ruth is held up as an ideal woman and Boaz as her protector and provider. It’s truly one of the most beautiful love stories in the Bible.

The book of Proverbs is filled with practical advice for Christian life. It has 31 chapters and reading a chapter a day for a month is a great place to start your Bible reading.

Proverbs centers around contrasting wisdom and folly. Wisdom is found by the fear of the Lord and folly is seen in laziness, in sexual sin, in pride and in living life apart from God.

One familiar verse in Proverbs is…. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Once you have read a few books of the Bible I highly recommend reading the whole Bible through in its entirety. It may seem intimidating but you can do it.

Most recently I have read the Bible through in chronological order using a Bible app, Youversion with the Bible reading plan called The Bible Recap. There is also a daily podcast to listen to that helps explain more difficult passage and gives you extra context for what you’re reading.

(Which is especially helpful in prophetic books or discouraging ones like Judges.). I read most often from the New International Version.

You can check out a review of one my current favorite Bible: The She Reads Truth Bible. Beginning reading the Bible for the first time is really intimidating, but knowing where to start helps tremendously.

To learn more about studying the Bible check out these articles and be sure to grab your FREE BIBLE STUDY WORKSHEETS to help guide you through your Bible reading.

5 Examples to Grow Your Faith. 25 Best Devotional Apps for Christian Moms.

Click here to see more of the Best Bible study tools.